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Auction 54 11 Jan 2022
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Pertinax. Æ Sestertius (29.17 g), AD 193. Rome. I[M]P CAES P HELV PERTINAX AVG, laureate head of Pertinax right. Reverse: OPI DIVIN TR P COS II around, S C across field, Ops seated left, holding two grain ears. RIC 20; BMC 43. Uniform dark brown patina, an edge split at 7 o'clock. Nice bold portrait. Choice Very Fine / Fine. Estimated Value $1,000 - UP
Pertinax rose from humble beginnings to the highest echelons of administration, having served as a successful general and subsequently governor of several important provinces. At the time of Commodus' murder, he was Prefect of Rome. Upon his elevation on 1 January AD 193, Pertinax immediately began a series of legal and fiscal reforms, which although sound were unpopular with the corrupt officials then serving in the highest administrative posts in the Empire. This quickly led to an attempted coup, led by his co-consul Sosius Falco just two days after his accession. While the first coup was put down, a second was just beginning, and it came to a head on 28 March when the praetorians stormed the imperial palace and murdered the 66-year-old Pertinax. His reign had lasted a mere 86 days. The guardsmen paraded his decapitated head on a lance through the streets of Rome, but this heinous deed would shortly condemn them as when Septimius Severus arrived in Rome he tricked the Praetorians into assembling unarmed, then dismissed and banished the entire Guard under threat from his Illyrian troops.
Peter Corcoran Collection, Ex CNG 70 (21 September 2005), 797.
Pertinax rose from humble beginnings to the highest echelons of administration, having served as a successful general and subsequently governor of several important provinces. At the time of Commodus' murder, he was Prefect of Rome. Upon his elevation on 1 January AD 193, Pertinax immediately began a series of legal and fiscal reforms, which although sound were unpopular with the corrupt officials then serving in the highest administrative posts in the Empire. This quickly led to an attempted coup, led by his co-consul Sosius Falco just two days after his accession. While the first coup was put down, a second was just beginning, and it came to a head on 28 March when the praetorians stormed the imperial palace and murdered the 66-year-old Pertinax. His reign had lasted a mere 86 days. The guardsmen paraded his decapitated head on a lance through the streets of Rome, but this heinous deed would shortly condemn them as when Septimius Severus arrived in Rome he tricked the Praetorians into assembling unarmed, then dismissed and banished the entire Guard under threat from his Illyrian troops.
Peter Corcoran Collection, Ex CNG 70 (21 September 2005), 797.